Cape Town - Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has announced road fatality figures for the Easter weekend with 189 crashes recorded and 235 deaths.
Mbalula said these figures showed a decline compared to 2019 figures but there remained a lot of work ahead as the country needed stricter laws to deal with unruly drivers.
The Easter weekend figures have been compared to the 2019 figures because last year the country was in a strict level five lockdown which restricted movement.
Travelling recorded on major roads was high despite the lack of religious pilgrimage this year, Mbalula said.
Mbalula said compared to 2019, where figures over the long weekend stood at 193 crashes and 260 deaths, in 2021 the figures reduced slightly to 189 crashes and 235 deaths.
A provincial breakdown of the figures saw KwaZulu-Natal recording the highest figures at 42 crashes and 54 fatalities.
* Gauteng recorded 30 crashes and 36 fatalities
* Eastern Cape had 22 crashes and 27 fatalities
* Free State had eight crashes and 13 fatalities
* Northern Cape recorded six crashes and seven fatalities
* North West had 15 crashes and 20 deaths
* Western Cape had 24 crashes and 26 fatalities
* Mpumalanga recorded 15 crashes and 18 fatalities
The minister said the decline could be attributed to increased work from law enforcement agencies. He said this was another reason why measures such as body cameras would be introduced to help keep roads safe.
On the roadblock statistics, Mbalula said 336 roadblocks were conducted across the country, 32 000 fines were issues, 883 vehicles were discontinued, 178 000 vehicles were stopped and 782 cars were impounded.
A total of 483 drivers were arrested for drunk driving and over 112 people were arrested for speeding with 28 arrests for reckless driving. An SAPS officer and traffic cop were arrested for bribery and corruption.
"We are still a long way from where we want to be. We must not claim easy victories," Mbalula said.
The country's busiest national roads were the N1 between Gauteng through the Free State to the Western which recorded 64 001 vehicles and 14 864 vehicles were recorded on N4 in KZN.
Political Bureau